Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Plane Crash

On September 7, 2011, a passenger jet aircraft carrying the pro Russian hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl crashed during takeoff near Yaroslavl, Russia, killing 44 of the 45 people on board. The team was flying to its first game of the season in Belarus. The team competed in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

The team’s roster included former NHL players Pavol Demitra, Ruslan Salei, Karlis Skrastins, Josef Vasicek, Karel Rachunek, and Alexander Vasyunov. The team’s coaching staff also had NHL playing experience in head coach Brad McCrimmon and assistant coaches Alexander Karpovtsev and Igor Korolev. In addition, Robert Dietrich and Stefan Liv had experience playing in the AHL minor league in the United States. The balance of the players and staff were from Eastern European nations.

Investigators ruled pilot error as the cause of the crash. During takeoff, one pilot was accelerating, while his co-pilot was on the brakes. As a result, the plane did not reach adequate speed by the end of the runway and crashed into the Volga River. The only surviving person was a flight engineer.